Hearing

[Paulineanne]

I have noticed lately that my mother cannot hear me despite the fact her hearing aid is working. I have tried changing the batteries but she still seems completely oblivious when I am talking to her.
Do you know if this is also part of dementia?
I have been through so much watching the changes in mum's behaviour as a result of this wicked disease, nothing surprises me!
I would value any comments.
Thank you.
Paulineanne

 

[Grannie G]

There may be a couple of other reasons why your mother seems to be losing her even more of her hearing Pauline.

She might 'switch off' and be in her own world, or her processing might have slowed down . I have no idea how this can be checked unless she is well enough and able to have a hearing test.

I have a hearing loss and don't hear in certain situations. If I'm travelling with others and am unable to follow the conversation, I 'switch off' and don't make any attempt to listen. That's what I mean in the first point.

As for the point about slow processing. We have a friend who has a very severe hearing loss. When we speak to him, it takes him a while to to reply because it takes him so long to work out what has been said and what to answer.

 

[xanadu777]

I wear a hearing aid and without it I'm totally deaf. Sometimes I find that the battery compartment does not always make contact and so the aid does not work. Also on occasion the earpiece and/or tubes gets blocked with condensation of even ear wax. If you hold the switched on hearing aid in a closed hand you should receive a feedback whistle which at least shows it's working. Sometimes the battery does not always fit its compartment snugly enough to make contact. Finally, I have found that my wife does not always acknowledge when spoken to especially if the words come too fast for her to register. I try to speak clearly and slowly which helps her but sometimes it takes more than one go. Hope the foregoing helps.

 

[robertjohnmills]

Hearing deterioration?

Hi there.
My own comment as one who does this for a living is that firstly you imply that the onset of this recent deterioration has been relatively sudden. If this is the case then it is likely to be ear wax as someone mentioned, or a fault with the hearing aid.
Although there is a slow down of ability to process speech signals with age, this is usually much slower, and is usually most significantly seen in competing background noise or multiple conversations.
There are many other reasons for sudden deterioration but I would seek advice on these after getting the basics sorted first.
By the way Dementia does not lead to a progressive loss of hearing function.
All the best

 

[Paulineanne]

Thank you all for your helpful comments. I will get the hearing aid checked out tomorrow in the first instance.
Many thanks.
Paulineanne

 

[sussexsue]

Just a small aside, but are you aware that dementia sufferers have very little concept of what is happening behind them. It is the one thing I have learnt that I must always face mum quite directly when talking with her.